


Adventures in Babysitting Mayor Queen

by somewhereelse



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:22:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8033020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somewhereelse/pseuds/somewhereelse
Summary: Inaccurate Season 5. Oliver Queen, the frantic and overworked Green Arrow/Mayor of Star City, reverts to form while his secretary figuratively chases him around with the business end of a feather duster.





	Adventures in Babysitting Mayor Queen

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine Oliver as being more scattered and unsure in his mayoral capacity (especially without Diggle and Felicity to coach him along) and to have fallen into old habits and behavior established by Raisa when it comes to stern, motherly authority figures.

 

 

Beverly Ramos was a formidable woman. After all, she had outlasted the preceding five mayors of Star(ling) City, and, prior to their assassinations, was the one responsible for keeping them on track and as uncorrupt as possible. Not saying much but she could only work with what she had.

A lifetime appointment as the mayor's secretary by the sentimental yet short-lived Mayor Kirkhall (2009-2009, RIP), and a string of successors who were never in office long enough to remember to revoke said appointment, resulted in her designation as the de facto mother hen. It was to the point that the interns, who occasionally lasted longer than the mayors, began referring to her as Mama R, and somehow convinced the more permanent staff to do the same; now it was just a never-ending cycle. The only person to use her preferred name--Bev--was the former fiancée of her newest babysitting charge.

"Mrs. Ramos!"

Since it was a smidgen better than Mama R, she rose from her desk and hovered in the doorway of the mayor's office. "Yes, Mayor Queen?"

The man gave her a timid smile as he searched through the towering piles of paperwork on his desk. "Do you happen to know where the quarterly reports are?" It was the third time this week that he had asked her the same question. And it was the third time this week that she would give him the same response.

"Mayor Queen, if you would just refer to your tablet," she ignored his disgruntled groan, "you'll find the most recent version of the quarterly reports, along with staff comments, organized by date and color-coded by department."

"If you could just print me a hard copy--" Oliver began to request.

"For you to lose again, in this pigsty of an office?" Bev interrupted with the same tone used to scold her children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, interns, rude youths, and really just anyone who had the misfortune of displeasing her. Predictably, the mayor flushed and rubbed his fingers together. "If you don't mind my asking, what was the point of having Felicity update the entire office to an electronic work stream, if the mayor himself is always refusing to use it?"

Oliver straightened and recited, "Starl--City is home to one of the most cutting edge technology companies in the world. And that should be reflected from its streetlamps to its local government."

"Yes, a lovely canned response, but I was asking when our mayor would begin to toe the company line." When he didn't reply, Bev plucked the tablet from where it was peeking out of his briefcase and powered it on. It was but a moment for the device to connect to the office wireless internet and then to sync to the servers. "The quarterly reports. Sir." After he reluctantly took the device from her outstretched hand, she turned to leave. "I won't be printing you another file, Mayor Queen. It's bad for the environment, and we have a reputation to maintain as a cutting edge city."

* * *

"Mayor Queen, you're going to be late for your 4 PM appearance at the Warehouse," Bev followed up her reminder by poking her head into the mayor's office. Only to find him sprawled on the couch and lightly snoozing. "Mayor Queen!" Her exclamation had the intended effect, and the man jumped...into a fighting stance?

When his eyes landed on her after scanning the room, his shoulders slumped, and he dropped his fists. "Mrs. Ramos, you startled me. Can I help you?"

"You'll be late if you don't leave for your 4 PM at the Warehouse," she repeated slowly, watching carefully as Oliver fixed his tie and jammed the tablet (which he'd been drooling on) into his briefcase.

"Thank you for the reminder. As always, feel free to leave once you're done for the day." His words rushed past her just as the man himself did.

* * *

"Thea," Oliver couldn't help the sigh as he wrapped his little sister in a bear hug. Surprisingly, his relief at not having her in the field was sometimes outweighed by how much he felt her absence.

"Too tight," Thea grumbled and pinched his side for good measure. When he finally released her, her smile was a sunbeam to the face. "So what do you think?"

With the remainder of Malcolm's blood money, Thea had purchased one of the few surviving warehouses at the edge of the Glades. She had converted the space to house a few restaurants and lines of stalls for local shops, turning the cavernous building into a market hall of sorts, with a library and learning center in the back. Rent was nominal, enough to keep the place clean and maintained, and vendors were asked to pay the rest in good will: a local's discount for Glades residents and demonstrations of their skills for the children, or apprenticeships for those old enough and interested enough.

"It's amazing. You're amazing." He dropped a light kiss on her head as, for once, she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed tightly. "Now I know why you didn't want to work in the mayor's office all summer."

"Ugh, no, thank you. I had enough of paperwork at CNRI." Thea scrunched up her nose, and Oliver chuckled lightly. "Come on, you've got to see the learning center. Felicity went all out; the place looks more high tech than the base. And the press is going to love getting photos of you reading to tiny tots."

This time, it was Oliver scrunching up his nose as he allowed Thea to drag him to the back of the large facility, where floor to "ceiling" windows showcased a bright work area: a few shelves of books and open tables on one side, and rows of tablets and computers on the other, bookended by glass-walled study rooms on each side. No hidden corners for shenanigans here.

"The windows are bulletproof glass, and there are drop-down security shutters, accessible by a panic button. It has an internal air filtration system, and the rainbow bridge design in the carpet doubles as the entrance to the basement panic room," Thea quietly whispered. Oliver gave her a sharp look in return, and she shrugged lightly. "Can't be too prepared. As we keep learning."

Reluctantly, he nodded at a few reporters then trailed behind Thea into what now seemed like the world's largest fishbowl. A sizeable group of children was gathered around Felicity, to the point where she was almost completely hidden from view. A little blonde girl wearing glasses was all but hanging from her adult version's neck, and Oliver suddenly placed her as the kid he pulled to safety at the attack on the bay.

"Mayor Queen! Thank you for coming." An older man interrupted his view of storytime, reaching out a hand to vigorously shake his. "Let me show you around. I know it's small but we're pretty mighty. Ms. Queen has been so generous in donating this space, and Ms. Smoak has helped us build a massive library."

"There doesn't seem to be many books, I noticed," Oliver couldn't help but point out, gesturing to the scant, waist-high shelves.

"Correct, we don't have much space or storage, so Ms. Smoak has been building our digital library. We have twenty tablets now; ten will remain here while ten may be checked out by users. We're expecting another twenty next month. Palmer Tech has been very generous.” The man nodded at Felicity who, instead of storytime as Oliver assumed, was actually teaching the children to run apps on a tablet.

Muttering a flimsy excuse, Oliver marched over to Felicity and, after even flimsier excuses, shuffled her into a study room. Thea followed quickly on their heels, throwing a placating smile over her shoulder before she firmly shut the door.

"Are you trying to ruin their eyesight and corrupt their minds!?"

Felicity threw up her hands, in the way that let him know she thought it'd all gone to hell in a handbasket. "Everything is equipped with blue light filters and parental blocks that not even seven-year-old _me_ could hack. And I know you're a bit of a luddite, but these kids--especially the ones who can't afford it at home--need to learn how to use technology if they expect to be competitive in today's world. I'm just trying to help!"

Oliver growled because of course she couldn't see the bigger picture, of course she wouldn't realize that this was just another location to add to his patrol. "All you're doing is creating another target for crime in the middle of the Glades!"

"Don't be obtuse! I know Thea explained the security measures. I'm not trying to create more work for you." Her voice had softened, and she gave him a knowing look. Of course she would read between the lines and knock him for six.

"Oh dear god, I'm trapped in an actual glass case of emotion," Thea realized as she distastefully eyed the unsubtle crowd peering into the completely transparent room.

"Shut up, Thea!" rang out simultaneously. The brunette rolled her eyes and collapsed into a sturdy yet uncomfortable desk chair.

"Don't talk to my sister like that!"

"She's my sis--" Felicity cut herself off, choking on the words. Her jaw snapped shut so hard both Queens winced in sympathy. After a few deep breaths, she calmly left the room, snatching her purse on the way out and shouldering through the small crowd of reporters and onlookers.

"Good work, _Ollie_. I thought the idea was to ease into this?"

Oliver dragged a hand over his later than five o'clock shadow before tiredly repeating, "Shut up, Thea."

* * *

"Mayor Queen!"

Her tone sharp and full of reproach, Bev didn't even wait for the knucklehead to fully exit the elevator. Every staff member's head popped up only to be brought straight back down to their computers when met with Mama R's fury.

"Mrs. Ramos, you are not a member of the communications staff," Oliver tried to head her off as he hustled past her into his office.

"I'm the reason you have a communications staff," she countered, not letting him shut the door in her face. "Your appearance at the Warehouse was meant to be  _good_ publicity." Bev ignored his groan as he sank into his office chair. "Your sister has done an admirable thing, investing your family's money in this city. You were there to support her, maybe read to the children. Not get into an argument with your ex-fiancée!"

Oliver covered his face with his hands. " _I know that!_ " His retort came out garbled before he finally took a deep breath and turned to face her. "How bad are the photos?"

"You look as if you're about to either tear each other's heads off or rip each other's clothes off." Bev dismissed his sputtering with a wave of her hand. "Spare me. I have three children and, so far, four grandchildren. The stork did not drop them off."

”Would you please schedule a meeting with the chief of staff and communications director for this afternoon?” Oliver requested once he recovered.

”Of course, sir, and when would you like me to schedule your apology to Thea and Felicity?” She didn't wait for his response before she returned to her desk.

* * *

"Hi, Bev," the blonde greeted sunnily once she made her way past the staff converging on the cupcakes she had dropped off with reception.

The deputy mayor wandered by to mutter a 'thank you', his mouth full of cupcake, and Bev grimaced. "Vultures, the lot of them."

"Young and hungry," Felicity corrected. "And just what Star City needs right now. What's the drama of the day?"

"Lower building height restrictions in the R-4 residential district," Bev tiredly replied and gestured to the large stack of opened letters on her desk. "Thirty-one letters today and the deadline isn't until close of business. Apparently, people with three-story houses are the reason Star City keeps getting attacked by terrorists."

"Why do people care about who erects what? Sounds like they're just jealous of how big it is." Felicity suddenly bit her lip and then shook her head to clear it. "Houses, I was talking about houses. Is he busy?" Her head tilted towards the closed door, and, right on cue, a rough curse filtered through the solid wood.

The older woman sighed while glancing through the calendar. "I don't know why you're making the first step. His behavior was absolutely atrocious. I nearly put a placeholder meeting in his schedule for him to apologize to you and Thea, just to watch him sweat over it." Felicity stifled a laugh at the thought. "Nothing scheduled. If he has an ounce of common sense, he'll be going over the budget requests before tomorrow's City Council meeting."

"Probably why he's cursing," Felicity noted with a grimace. She approached the door and quietly knocked before slipping inside.

* * *

Bev lifted a weary hand to acknowledge the last staffer's farewell. She gathered the pile of papers from the printer tray and gave a perfunctory knock on the mayor's door before opening it and walking in, still counting the pages. "Mayor Queen, I'm leaving for the day but you need to sign these park designation ordinances for tomorrow's consent agenda." When she didn't receive a response, Bev looked up, expecting to see the mayor once again napping on the couch.

"OLIVER QUEEN! That is it! Young man, you are not allowed to have girls in your office with the door closed. And, you, Felicity Smoak! He better have apologized first."

The woman dropped the pile of papers where she stood and all but fled the office, only just remembering to grab her purse from her desk drawer. There was no way she wanted to come back into the building before tomorrow morning.

Oliver looked down at the shocked blonde beneath him. When the knock had come, they had watched in disbelief as the secretary distractedly walked in. Moments before she looked up, Oliver gained the presence of mind to flip their positions, throw his discarded suit jacket over his bare ass, and flatten himself over Felicity. "For some reason, I feel like I've heard all of that before."

After a long moment, Felicity couldn't hold in her laughter, finally smothering the sound against Oliver's chest. "Guess the jig is up. All because you got frustrated you couldn't find the button to make the text bigger."

**Author's Note:**

> Choose your own secret relationship!


End file.
